Rick and Donna Martinez, current hosts of News Talk 680, brought on AFP’s Francis DeLuca and Friends of Wake County’s Rick Bonner to talk about a proposed school bond for Wake County.
A caller during this segment brought up the point that the school board refused to support raising the charter in a non-binding vote. He went on to suggest that charters are a way to improve education in the state. Neither guest did a good job of arguing for or against charters. But it nonetheless got me thinking.
The most-recent argument against charters is that they are ineffective at improving education, or at least just as good as traditional schools. Although there’s reason to believe this isn’t the case — that, in fact, charters’ do outperform traditional schools — that’s not totally the point. Charters, which usually cater to special needs or draw in low -income students, start out with a disadvantage. But even here, they still have the most chance to improve because they’re built to be responsive, adapting to the needs of the children.
Ask yourself this question when numbers are flying around and fingers are being pointed at public schools and charters: When it comes down to it, which type of school can change faster to suit the needs of the child, the bureaucratic, stalwart public institution, or the small, student-centered charter?
